


A Day Like Any Other?

by jolly_love



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Draco Malfoy, Hiding, M/M, POV Draco Malfoy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-War, Slow Romance, Small Towns, new characters - Freeform, small chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2019-10-21 03:27:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17635145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jolly_love/pseuds/jolly_love
Summary: A few years after the Second Wizarding War, Harry Potter is in hiding. The Auror Draco Malfoy is tasked with finding him for one of the last Death Eater trials. Will he find Harry in time and can he convince him to come out of hiding and testify in the trial?*rewrite from Chapter 2 (into pov Draco)**irregular updates*





	1. The unwanted Visitor

He knew the instant the door opened that he was unwanted there. Behind the door stood Granger, glaring at him, as if he was the grim in person.

“What do you want, Malfoy?” Still the old Granger. He couldn’t forget the punch she threw at him in their third year. He was sure she considered it right now once again.

“Looking for Potter.” He said pointing at the official robe for the Ministry. “Official Ministry business.”

“Hermione, what are you doing out of…” Weasley had emerged from the depths of the house.

“Malfoy.”

“Weasel.”

The young ginger man told his wife to back to bed. When Granger turned around, Draco could see that she actually was really pregnant. That made a lot of sense since she wouldn’t just like that abandon her post at the Ministry.

He still wasn’t invited into the house, now he just had to face off with the Weasel.

“What do you want?”

Draco sighed and repeated that he was looking for Potter. “Have you seen him?”

Weasley shrugged his shoulders and pressed his lips together, before answering.

“Haven’t heard from him in a while. But that’s nothing new.” He said and crossed his arms over his chest. Draco looked at him a bit surprised as well as in disbelief. Potter wouldn’t talk to his best friends in a while? That seemed suspicious.

“Why? What do you want from him?” The Weasel now also seemed suspicious of him.

“As I said; official Ministry business. Can’t tell anyone.”

The man at the door raised one eyebrow and shook his head. “How come you became an Auror and everything? You never seemed keen to work for the Ministry.”

Draco could feel the anger in his body almost overwhelming him, but he kept it inside. This was why he didn’t want to accept the mission of finding Harry Potter. He had to go through people that only ever saw the worst in him and now he had to – once again – convince them that he had changed. But none of his former class mates would ever believe that.

“Look, I am here to do my job. I’m looking for Potter and I would like for you to give me any information you got concerning his whereabouts.” Draco was a bit proud of his neutral statement. Even if it seemed cold, but he only said what was true.

Weasley sighed and nodded. “Okay man. But our information is a bit outdated.” He stared at Draco for a while and turned back into his home. “Stay there. I’ll bring you everything I’ve got.”  
Draco was surprised that this statement actually worked. Maybe it wasn’t just this, maybe Potters friends were a little worried about what had happened to him, so they were happy that someone was tracing his steps.

A few moments later and Weasley came out with a small folder. Draco frowned and wanted to grab it, when the man took it back.  
“Please don’t tell Harry, that you’ve got this information from us. He’s trying to stay undetected and I would hate for him to find out that I gave him away.”  
Draco nodded and took out a little notebook.

“When did you last talk to Potter and where was he by that time?”

Weasley played with the folder in his hands, but seemed to genuinely think about the question.

“We talked to him about two months ago; he said he was heading towards York. I’m pretty sure he’s going to go to Scotland.”

Draco stopped writing and looked at the red-haired man. “What do you mean ‘he’s going’? He can apparate!”

Weasley nodded. “He told us, that he was going by foot. Something about how he could think about things while he’s walking. I don’t know, man. I haven’t heard from him in ages.”

“Alright.” Draco put his notebook back into his robe and accepted the folder. Before he could leave, Weasley addressed him again: “Malfoy, if you find him, please let us know. We’re worried sick.”

Draco nodded and turned. So he was right; Granger and Weasley were actually worried about Potter and that was why they were happy to talk to him.  
He thought about apparating to York and start asking questions around the smaller villages, but decided to stay at home one more day and look through the folder Weasley had given him.


	2. The Clue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: I've changed this chapter from Harry's perspective to Draco's.

Listen, if there’s something Draco had learned in all those years he practiced as an Auror – okay, it wasn’t that many, but still – it wasn’t to look for something that was there, but to look for things that were missing. Not big things, like in this case Harry Potter, but for small things that would all together form a path to the person he was looking for.

The folder Weasley had provided for Draco contained a map of the UK with red points and dates. This was probably the path Potter walked. It all lead to York and then stopped a few miles north.

There were wizard and Muggle newspapers that showed pictures of Potter in the back of some events. Draco realized that Weasel must have forgotten to extract some of them, because it lead him all the way to Newcastle. Two months ago.

For a moment, Draco stopped when he opened a newsletter and he could see Potter so clearly that his heart stopped. He looked broken, even worse than right after the war. Though Draco realized that Potter seemed to be using some kind of spell or glamour that made him change appearances, however, he could never get his hair flat. Even if he was disguising himself.

Draco put down the papers and looked over the small folder. There was not much to follow up on. Potter might not be the most amazing wizard, but his time where he was travelling all around in secret with his friends seemed to help him hide right now.

He stood up and put a kettle on the fire. There must be more. Somewhere there must be a clue as to where his childhood nemesis was.

Draco rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. He remembered the last time he saw Potter: His very own trial. He looked so slim, unhealthy even and as if he hadn’t gotten any sleep. Still, he told the judge to give him, Draco Malfoy, Ex-Death Eater, another chance.

The water was boiling and he quickly poured it over his favourite tea. With tea in his hand, Draco walked back to the table where he’d been studying Potter for over an hour now.

“Who would have thought” Draco smiled lightly, while he was talking to himself. It felt like he was obsessed with the hero wizard once again. He just sat down and put his feet up on the table.

The tea still in his hands, he decided to check with the owlery in the Ministry as well as the Surveillance of Fireplaces. They intercepted some owls and sometimes checked the fire places. Maybe they had done so for the Weasley-Granger household and had anything to tell him.

* * * 

“Morning, Jake” Draco greeted the intern in the owlery. He bit his lips together, hiding a smirk, as he saw a lot of new scratches and scars. Jake just had no feelings for the owls. And his freaked out face, every time an owl even hooted was the proof to this theory.

“Good morning, Mr. Malfoy. Would you like to send a letter?” The young boy asked and looked up to the ceiling in fear where a few owls just fell asleep.

“No, thank you, Jake. I have my own owl for that. Is Mr. Davis in yet?” He asked and looked to the room at the very end of the owlery.

“He just came in” Jake nodded. Draco gave the intern a slight smile, before crossing the room in just a few steps. He knocked and heard Mr. Davis cry his scratchy “come in”, then walked into the office.

“Draco!” the old man yelled and his face lifted up with joy. “Coming to tell me that you would like to transfer to the owlery? The owls love you!”

Draco laughed and shook his head. “Sorry Oskar. I’m not going to transfer. I do kind of like my job.”

The head of the owlery shrugged his shoulders. “Worth a try. So how can I help you, Draco?”

The Auror bit his lower lip. “Well, I was wondering if you had intercepted some letters in the last two or three months.” Of course he had. It was his job after all. But Draco felt better easing into the discussion than bolting into what he wanted right away.

Mr. Davis nodded. “We took it down a nudge after the war and the interceptions are still declining, but we’ve got a few. Who do you want to take a look at?”

Draco knew that what he was going to say didn’t please Mr. Davis. His favourite person was Granger and he also had a soft spot for her husband. In addition, Granger was on her way to becoming the new minister, even if it would take a few more years. No one should be spying on them.

“The Weasley-Granger household." Noticing that Oaskar was about to object, he added some more information. "I’m looking for Potter.”

As Draco had anticipated, the head of the owlery frowned and only after a few seconds, picked up the book with all the entries of the intercepted letters.

He sighed and gave Draco a letter to Potter which was obviously written by Weasley. Draco read everything and handed the letter back. “Thank you, Oskar” He said quickly and left just as quickly. Otherwise he would have had to listen to another lecture of how Oskar felt he had betrayed his favourite person and stuff like that.

He entered his office, which he shared with two other Aurors and with just a quick glance to his desk, decided to take the paperwork home. He needed time to think about what he had read.


	3. The Discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter for my very first fic. (Updates are going to be irregularly)

After Draco read the letter Weasley sent to Potter he had some new clues. The Weasel knew Potter was staying in Edinburgh and that was one month and a few weeks ago. So Potter really must be in Scotland.

Before he could leave and travel to Scotland himself, Draco decided to visit the section of Surveillance of Fireplaces. Maybe they could even help him pinpoint a specific area. Without this, Draco had to admit, that Scotland was a little bit too big to start turning over all the stones and looking for a wizard in hiding. And Potter had actually had some experience hiding - he had survived his year in hiding from the Dark Lord himself...

Even though it was very well past midnight, Draco entered the dark entrance room of the SoF. There was always someone around – especially at night, since a lot of wizards seemed to think that night was the best time of day to talk with shady people. On the wall, there were hundreds of people sticking their heads out of the fire and talking. You couldn’t hear anything, but it was still a little creepy.

“How can I help you today?” the witch at the front desk asked.

“I need some information about a specific fire place” Draco explained. The witch nodded and asked which one. Draco as usual felt a little embarrassed as he once again said Weasley’s and Granger’s fire place.

The witch at the desk didn’t even move her face in surprise, but started rifling through a few numbered fire places, then opened up a small room at Draco’s right and hold out her hand for his wand. After placing his wand in her hand, he entered the room. He checked through a few recorded messages, but couldn't find anything regarding Potter. Sadly there was nothing, absolutely nothing weird going on. There were no mysterious people and other things. Draco was just about to leave the room again, when the little monitor at the wall opposite of him lit up.

There was a call going on right now. Just a little interested, Draco looked at it and inhaled surprised, once he saw a familiar shape in the fire. Draco could see Potter’s face appear in the fire place, right this second. Quickly, he pressed the small button at the bottom, so he could hear what was going on. Sadly, as he pressed the button that would tell him the area from where Potter was calling his friends, it came up empty immediately. The Gryffindor was pretty smart in using magic against finding him.

“Harry! I haven’t seen you in weeks!” He heard the Weasel talking.

Potter smiled and it seemed to be quite happy. Draco couldn’t stop staring. When had he ever seen him that happy or relaxed? He still looked quite tired and really awful, but not as broken as he looked in the newspapers.

“What are you talking about, Ron?! We talked yesterday!” Potter laughed and shook his head. “Hi Hermione, how are you doing?”

Draco couldn’t do anything, just sit there and admire the seemingly happy Potter. But he also couldn’t stop thinking that there was something wrong. It was like he pretended to be happy for his friends. Draco wasn’t really proud about this, but he looked Potter deeper in the eyes and even though the fire couldn’t really show his true and real emotions (and eyes) he had the feeling that Potter was hiding his sadness.

“Listen, you guys need to stop sending Errol! I’m pretty sure he’s going to die on my bed one day, because this long flight is killing him.” Potter explained and laughed a little.

“If we knew where you were we could talk about which owl to send. But also, my mother sent Errol” Draco heard Weasley talk. Potter grinned and rolled his eyes.

“Let’s just say, that Errol shouldn’t be flying this far. I’ll send her back, with some help.”

Draco raised one eyebrow. Help? Potter didn’t have any owls. So whatever owl he’ll order to help this stupid Weasel owl could be the key to him finding the wizard in hiding. Who knew it was that easy finding Potter?!

“Harry, we’re really worried! Can you not just tell us something? So that we don’t have to be scared that you could die and we wouldn’t realize until it’s too late?”  
Potter smirked a little.

“That got dark real fast, Hermione” He smiled. Draco held his breath. Was he actually going to say where he was?

“Okay, I’ll tell you something. I opened up a pub in a small Muggle village. That way no one can ever find me” Potter explained. Draco smiled broadly. He had all the small details, now he just had to put them together, so that everything was in the right spot.

“Wait, you own a pub?!” Draco heard the indignant tone in Weasley’s voice, even if he could only see Potter. The latter shrugged his shoulders and smiled slightly. Draco could see that his expression had changed a little.

“It’s a good way to start over. People need to drink, I can meet new people – normal people – and I keep hiding in plain sight.” Potter said very impartial, apparently not wanting to argue over something he seemed to enjoy.

“Sure, but don’t you think that if a certain someone would accidentally stumble over this pub, he would realise it’s you? You could have opened up a bookshop or... I don’t know... a sweets shop.”

Potter seemed to get annoyed by Weasley trying to talk him out of whatever he was doing.

“Ron, I’ve made my choice. So could you please stop with everything?! I like being up here! Every morning I can sleep in and go on a stroll around the village and up the hill, breathe in the air and feel like myself again.”

Draco couldn’t stop smiling. Potter was giving away so much, he was sure that with every new detail, he could find him easier. However, the discussion between Potter and his best friends seemed to end very abrupt, because Potter just shook his head and disappeared.

As Draco left the small room, he couldn’t hide his smile when he received his wand back and he thanked the witch at the front desk, before leaving the SoF. Now, he just needed a map and a few hours of silence. And then he could go to Scotland and try to convince Potter so come back for the trials. Draco was pretty sure that this part was also going to be hard. But he also thought that finding Potter was going to be difficult. And now he found him in less than three days. Well... almost found him.

Draco decided to take a detour and buy some of this homemade bread he liked but was way too expensive for an everyday use. He needed to celebrate this.


	4. The first Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be out of town for a few days and I looked through my Drarry ideas and decided to work on this story again, before I'm leaving. So another chapter was born.

Draco had apparated a few miles away from where he suspected Potter was hiding. He had changed his appearance with some effort. Nothing should help Potter realise it was him. First, he just wanted to find him without having to chase him through the whole village.

He posed as a Muggle backpacker who had lost his way and needed some shelter. With that, he walked over the small hill that had a beautiful view of a small lake and saw the village he had wanted to find. Running his fingers through the dark brown hair, he sighed and shook his head. He wasn't even a little ready to meet the Chosen One. It had been so long since he had seen him and now... Well, there wasn’t another choice, he needed to this, if he wanted or not. It was his job and maybe he would have enjoyed it more to be hunting some crooked lawbreaker, but he was the Ministry’s best chance to find and bring back the Golden Boy.

“Lost?” someone suddenly asked and Draco turned around and was faced with none other than Harry Potter.

He stammered around and shook his head, to clear his head again. “Yes, sorry. I have no idea where I am... Do you think you could help me out?”

Potter smiled and Draco almost sank to his knees. It was the most dashing smile he had ever seen. In fact, Potter looked very much not like he had thought he would. For starters, his clothes were perfect: The ripped jeans and dark red Pullover, which looked extremely soft, were smug and showing his body off quite nicely. He had a faint beard, which made him look even better, but the part that took Draco’s breath away was his eyes. They were sparkling full of life.

“Certainly” Potter smiled. “Where did you want do go?”

Great... Even with all his effort, he had forgotten to check for some places around the village. Great job, Draco. Hesitating, he answered a little sheepishly. “I honestly don’t know. I...”

Before he could start talking and thinking more, Potter interrupted him smirking. “Are you one of those people who likes to go where the tide takes them?”

“Pretty much, yes.”

Nodding, Potter got up. “I can give you a place to stay for a few days if you want to rest?”

Draco was a little taken aback by how easy it was to stay with the Saviour himself. He frowned and let go of a laugh, before he shook his head. “Just like that? I could be a serial killer, escaping prison or something! I could...trash your place and then what?”

“I’ll take my chances” Potter grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not that easily intimidated. Also, people who theorize about serial killers, usually tend not to be psychopaths.”

Well, even if there was a serial killer coming to his place, Draco was sure that with his level of magic, Potter could easily defend himself.

“What’s your name?” Potter asked and motioned for Draco to walk towards the village. He followed rather quickly.

“I’m Benjamin Brown” he answered. He had hated the name for a long time, before he had started to see its advantage. It was easy to remember and fun to say. Most of his undercover stuff had happened with the personality of Benjamin Brown, though the people in dark circles only knew him as Jaime B.

Suddenly, Draco realised that even though he knew who he was talking to, Benjamin probably wouldn’t. “And you?”

“Sirius Evans” Potter answered and nodded. “I like your name, by the way. Your parents must have been proud that they found a name matching the first letter of your last name.”

Draco chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Thank you, E... Sirius. I’m pretty sure they were stoked.”


	5. The Three Sheep Pub

Draco followed Potter down the hill into the small village. There were probably fifty houses, all of them coloured in different shades and with different marks and shapes. Potter walked right to the middle, where Draco could see a decent sized pub and a young man standing in front it.

Potter sighed and straightened his posture, before calling out to the man. “Hello Conner. I didn’t know you’d stop by so soon.”

The man smiled broadly and Draco was sure that he saw him wink at Potter. “Oh, don’t worry about me. I saw this in the post today and decided to come by you first, Sirius!”

He held out an envelope, which had been opened already. If Draco could see it, he was sure Potter would see it as well.

In fact, he had seen it and fixed the man called Connor with a stern look. “Did you open my mail again, Conner? What did I say about that?”

The man seemed too excited to have heard the warning and continued cheerfully. “It’s from a critic, Sirius, who wants to come and check out your pub, apparently you have the best food in the area, so they want to make sure you’re doing a good job.”

Sighing, Potter accepted the letter and told Connor to go, which he didn’t – since he kept asking for a cold beer and Potter kept denying it.

Draco wasn’t sure if he should comment on what he had seen, so he decided to check out the pub. It looked rather nice from outside. The rustic appearance seemed to be something that Potter had built on top of the normal structure.

The village had probably lost its interest in a semi finished, death trap filled and burnt down place. Some wooden planks still seemed black and a little burned. Draco wondered why Potter didn’t just change it, when he saw the smooth glass on top of those planks.

While Potter argued with Connor, Draco walked closer to the burnt wood and was about to touch it, when an old woman suddenly appeared next to him. If he wouldn’t have known that he was in a Muggle village, he would have guessed she had apparated there.

“Well hello, stranger” she smiled at him and Draco was completely taken in by her cheerful nature. “A long way from home, I assume?”

Draco nodded a little hesitantly. If he would have met her on the streets of London, he would have probably thought she was about to abduct him.

She chuckled. “Sure, no one ever comes here because they want to. Most people just get lost and find us. And the next thing you know, they’ll stay.”

“Always?”

The woman nodded and pointed at Potter. “He was the latest stranger to appear here. My daughter Ava saw him outside the village on the hill and brought him here. He looked as if he had seen his worst nightmares come true and we provided him with food and shelter and... he decided to stay.”

Draco looked over to Potter and was pretty sure that he had seen his worst nightmares come to life. Continuously having to be there when Death Eaters were being on trial probably also wasn’t the best for the man.

When he turned back to the pub, she must have seen him looking at the brunt wood, since she quickly offered up some explanation. “Oh that! That was the Big Fire! This was our town hall, which we never used, but it was nice to know it existed. Right before Sirius came to live with us, it was blazing fiercely. We could stop it from burning down, but we never rebuilt it. Sirius had the idea of the pub and decided to stay and rebuild it. He left the burnt wood here behind glass for some reason.”

“It’s to show people that even though you look fine on the outside, you can still be broken und hurt on the inside, Mrs Williams. I told you this about ten thousand times already.” Potter was apparently successful in getting away from Conner and smirked at the old woman. “But then again, it must be your brain that’s forgetting all the information.”

Draco opened his eye wide over such a sentence and was about to teach his childhood nemesis a lesson about politeness, when the woman laughed wholeheartedly and shook her head. “I always thought that this house was more an accurate representation of you than any doctor could have given us.” She chuckled and Draco could see her eyes almost sparkling of joy. “Oh, and thank you for the compliment of my brain, young man. What is your name again?”

Potter grinned and answered quickly. “It’s Igo Tago.”

“Igo Tago? Ah, I see” Mrs Williams answered and smiled. “Well, _I gotta go_ , as the Americans would say.”

Unsure whether to comment on what the Saviour had just said about being broken, Draco turned back to the pub, when he saw a certain additional aspect of Hogwarts integrated and immediately felt homesick. The stones covering the upper floor walls looked exactly like his home, while the ground floor seemed to be home for a lot of other people.

Suddenly, he read the name of the pub. “Three Sheep Pub?” he asked, when he turned towards Potter.

The Saviour smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “I have to be honest... I called it sheep because when I arrived there were thousands of them on the roads.”

Draco felt his lips curl into a grin and shook his head. “Why three?”

“Well, that’s a long story.”

“A number is a long story?”

Potter smirked and nudged him to enter the pub. He held open the door, while Draco passed, thinking about what a gentleman the wonder boy had become. Once inside, Draco stopped dead in his track. The morning light flooded the room through the big windows and the wooden floor was decently covered by about fifteen tables and at the back he noticed a few games, billiard, darts and even a chess table. There was a bar with a few bar stools and a lot of alcohol behind it.

“Like what you see?” Potter asked grinning and walked passed him.

Draco nodded and followed the man again, when he waved him closer and walked up the stairs hiding behind the bar.

Upstairs, there were five doors, of which one was open and led to the very small kitchen. “If you ever want to cook something yourself, you can use those. I never cook here, I use the one downstairs” Potter exclaimed and led him to the room right next to the kitchen.

“This is your room for now.” He opened the door and Draco finally saw his rather small room. Even though it was this small, it was extremely cosy and beautifully decorated.

It consisted of a comfortable looking bed, a deep red armchair in the corner, an empty desk right by the big window, overlooking the centre of the village, and a wardrobe made out of wood.

“Thank you!” Draco said, not before turning around frowning. “Listen, do I need to do something for you? I mean, I would understand it, if you’d like some help, if....”

Potter held out a hand to stop him from talking. “Don’t worry you’re pretty arse off, mate. You can stay here until you know where you want to go next. Maybe I’ll ask you for help sometime, but don’t expect me to make you do everything around here.”

He winked at him and left, closing the door. All of this left Draco a little frozen and he suddenly realized the heat on his face. Was he red? He turned to the mirror on the back of the door and saw his heated red face matching the armchair rather perfectly.

Shaking his head, he let go of the backpack and fell into the bed. He was asleep before he could even form a decent thought.


	6. The Twins

Draco awoke several hours later. He hadn’t thought that he was tired, but falling asleep definitely proved him wrong. After changing his clothes, he walked down the stairs to look it he could help with anything.

At the sight of Potter, Draco stopped again. He was wearing midnight black jeans and a white, loose button up shirt, with the first two buttons open. The shirt was tucked in and his green leather belt looked like a snake had slithered around his waist. While he was sipping on his water, Draco noticed a small bracelet around his wrist in the form of a snake biting its own tail. Apparently, not even here could he get away from all the snaked in his life.

The Gryffindor was standing behind the bar, checking different CDs, before a knock stopped him from reading through some letters, accompanying the music. He jumped over the bar elegantly and opened the door.

Cold air swept into the room and made Draco shudder. Potter smiled and opened it more so that the visitor could enter into the warmth.

There were two teenagers walking inside, both looking almost the same, except for their genders. In fact, they seemed to be a copy of the Weasley twins; red hair, freckles and always a smile on their faces. Both were wearing a cosy jumper and the girl had a green scarf around her neck.

“Hi Olivia, hey James, how are you doing?” Potter greeted them and they walked to the bar, where the Saviour gave them a coke each.

James, who seemed to be more talkative, answered immediately. “School was daft. There’s this knew child, Tobias, and he thinks he’s better than us, because he’s originally from London!”

He was clearly very upset and rolled his eyes, while Potter chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “There are always those people who think they’re better than you. I hope you showed him that you’re better at English and French, right?”

The boy nodded and high fived Potter. “Thank you again! Now I just need to find someone who can help me with math.”

“You should try Mrs Williams. She’s helping me with my finances, she’s fabulous with numbers” Potter suggested.

Now the girl seemed to be willing to talk as well. “Do you mean Ava or Mia?”

Potter shrugged his shoulders. “Well, Mia Williams is helping me, but I think Ava’s just as good at math.”

“We’ll try that next!” James answered smirking.

James and Olivia seemed to talk with no words, while Potter cleaned up the trash from his letters and CDs. Finally, the two teenagers seemed to come to a conclusion.

James sat up straighter and smiled at Draco’s childhood nemesis. “Okay, so don’t be mad, yeah?” Potter stopped what he was doing and raised an eyebrow, probably silently questioning why he should (or shouldn’t) be mad. The boy then continued, after Potter motioned him to. “Connor told us about the critic that’s coming sometime during the next few weeks.”

“Of course he did” Potter shook his head, though he didn’t seem upset. “Who else knows about that? No, let me rephrase that, who _doesn’t_ know about that?”

While Olivia shrugged her shoulders, James snickered. “I think Old Morris doesn’t know anything, yet. He sleeps until five p.m.”

“James, that would be Mr. Morris for you, don’t you remember not to give people nicknames?” Potter said almost as if the boy had been his very own.

Instead of agreeing, the redhead rolled his eyes. “That’s just because you don’t like the name of ‘Sassy Sirius’, which I gave you.”

“Touché!”

Now Olivia and James were laughing and the girl almost spilt her coke, while Potter smirked at them. Draco wondered if he had ever seen the Saviour more relaxed than now. It looked like he was in his element.

“Anyhow” James then turned back to the topic at hand. “We were wondering if you’d want us to help you out, serving people you know.”

Potter moved the CDs from the bar to the small music box under the bar close to the entrance. He stood back up and looked at the boy sternly. “I still have all my rules in place, young man: no being rude or sarcastic with the people. Additionally, if there’s a critic coming, you will not joke around with strangers, okay?”

“Sirius, if it helps you, I’ll keep my brother in check” Olivia offered and pleaded with her eyes.

Smirking, Potter answered quickly. “You know I can’t say no. How long do you want to work? Since it’s your holiday, you should enjoy a few free days, right?”

Olivia smiled at him and it was the sweetest smile, she was probably capable of. “We were actually hoping to earn some money here. So, if it’s not too much to ask, we’d like to work as much as possible.”

Nodding, Potter grabbed two papers from under the bar and presented them to the teenagers. “I already made a plan for your holiday.”

“Awesome! Thank you, Sirius!” James yelled and was out the door before anyone could say a thing.

Potter chuckled and turned to Olivia. “If you see Aaron around, tell him that he can have his job back as well, if he likes.”

Olivia hugged him over the bar and after promising to pass his message along, she bid goodbye.

Only then did Potter look up and see Draco standing in the staircase. He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, while Draco descended completely, sitting down at a vacated barstool. “Good afternoon, Benjamin. I hope you slept well.”

“Yeah, sorry. I did not mean to fall asleep just then.” Draco wanted to add more excuses, when Potter simply waved a hand.

“It’s the mountain air. It’s amazing what it does to your sleep.” He wiped the top of the bar and cleaned the glasses, as if he had been doing this his whole life.

Lacking something to say, Draco simply watched as Potter went on with his daily tasks. After a while, in which the Gryffindor had placed something to drink in front of Draco and wrote a few notes, looking at his alcohol, he turned back to his visitor.

Grabbing a coke himself, he took a sip and regarded Draco with a precise look. “So, what is your job?”

“Excuse me?” Draco was taken by surprise with this question. Backpackers weren’t normally questioned about their job, were they?

Potter smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “What do you do?” He then pointed outside to the people walking around in the village. “Almost everyone here has run away from things in their life. I just figured that maybe you did as well?”

That he could go with. “Well, I worked in a police station, but my job became boring over time. It’s always the same and no matter how many bad guys you catch, there will always be more of them.”

“I know just what you mean.”

It looked as if it had just slipped out, since Potter quickly tended to some dirty spots on the bar that were very clearly never going to be clean.

“How so?” Draco asked, since he knew that even though he would never ask Potter about it, Benjamin probably would. He was also interested in the answer the Golden Boy would give an apparent Muggle.

Potter smiled slightly. “Well, I have been working in... or rather studying law. I stopped after just one semester and decided to do something different with my life. You see, I should have accepted the path my parents made for me. However, I just couldn’t do it anymore.” After a few seconds in which Draco wasn’t sure if he should comment on anything, he continued again, looking rather normal. “I’m also much happier here than I would have been in law.”


	7. The Ministry's Projects

What had he learnt so far? Potter was done with the Ministry. Not that Draco would have been surprised. However, the Gryffindor only had to go through one or two hearings and then he could be free forever.

Draco sighed. Well, if anyone would question the Ministry, it was him. He had been one of their projects. Most Slytherins, who had fought on the wrong side of the war, had suddenly started to work for the Ministry. So called ‘restorations’. Blaise Zabini had started in Magical Accidents as Trainee Auror. Pansy Parkinson worked as a Secretary to the Head Auror and she hated her job. And he? Draco Malfoy – the Auror. People had been writing letters into the Ministry as soon as it was out, but they had insisted on keeping Draco.

Initially, he had been happy and did everything he could to prove them right. That was until a letter leaked from the Head of Magical Accidents to the Head Auror that stated that all Slytherins and ‘projects’ had to be supervised even more, since Theodore Nott had started a revolt, unhappy with being trusted basically zero percent. Well, now everyone had hated them.

Draco had brought the letter back to the Head Auror, claiming that he had just seen it and decided to bring it back personally – unopened of course. His skills at opening a letter were a thousand percent better than Connors.

That had been a mere two months ago and he had already lost his hope to finally be a fully fletched Auror. In fact, he had decided to quit as soon as he had delivered Potter to the Ministry.

Sitting up on the hill, where he had first met Potter, he took out his phone – not after looking around for people to overhear him – and dialled the number of Quentin King, his boss.

Luckily, the Ministry had upgraded to phones for their undercover Aurors. It would have been weird for someone to take out their wand and call someone else.

King picked up rather quickly. “Any leads?”

Fighting the urge to say ‘hello to you too’, Draco instead answered the question. “Not yet. There’s nothing around here. I’ll keep looking.” Why he lied to his boss, he didn’t know. However, he didn’t really have a reason to tell him the truth, since King would always win his laurels.

“I see” King stayed quiet for a second, as if he was debating something with either himself or someone else in the room that was overhearing his call. “Well, I was about to call you as well.”

 _Yeah right, you were_ , Draco thought, shaking his head, suppressing the need to tell him to get lost.

Luckily, King kept talking as if he had interpreted the silence on the other end as an offer to continue speaking. “I wanted to tell you that you have been doing sublime work and that with another task successfully completed, we would be promoting you, which meant that you could finally decide for your own which task to accept and all of that.”

Draco was quiet for a while, but sensing King’s eagerness to finally end this uncomfortable call, he simply answered with: “Thank you very much for the opportunity, Sir.” He would have liked to add a ‘Can I think about it’ at the end, but wisely chose to bid goodbye instead.

Why would he need to think about something like that? He would be the very first ‘project’ to get out of phase one! That would be amazing! However, somehow he wasn’t able to tell his boss that he had already found Potter?!

Groaning, he fell on his back and stared at the clouds, rushing through the gray sky. He placed his hands over his face and breathed in the cold autumn air, hoping to know what to do once it had filled his lungs completely. Of course it didn’t happen.

What did happen was another voice speaking to him, which almost made him jump.

“What opportunity?” a female voice asked.

Draco looked up and saw Olivia, the girl he had seen in the pub this afternoon. He sat back up and shrugged his shoulders. “My boss is giving me a promotion, if I decide to go back.”

She smiled, clearly a little shy and came a bit closer. “Why don’t you want to go back? If your boss is giving you a promotion, shouldn’t you want to go back there? I always thought promotions were a good thing.”

Chuckling over how much she was talking, compared to when she was in the pub with her brother, he answered. “It is a good thing, but I... I went away for a reason. I honestly don’t think I want to return there.”

His personality seemed to be slowly overtaking Benjamin Brown’s and Draco wasn’t sure he liked it. He had always tried to keep both people as far away from each other as possible. He liked expensive wines? Benjamin was sure to enjoy whiskey and schnapps. And take-out, which Draco despised.

Now, with the girl having heard about his promotion, he had to stick to it, since he was sure Olivia would be telling everyone about him. He was the new mysterious stranger.

“Why?”

Draco frowned. “Why what?”

Olivia smiled again. “Why wouldn’t you want to return?”

Sighing, Draco looked back over the lake. That was a very good question. He hadn’t understood it himself yet, though he knew it deep inside his heart that he’d finally had enough of the Ministry.

“I don’t know, honestly. I just think it’s time for something new.”

The girl clearly wanted to add something, when a boy called for her. She turned brightly red and bit her lower lip, before turning around. The boy that walked up the hill seemed to be two or three years older and smiled broadly. His dark blond hair was way too long for Draco’s liking, but then again, it wasn’t his choice. He looked rather comfortable in his sweater and joggings.

“Hello Olivia! I didn’t even see you guys coming back yesterday and when I went to visit Sirius he said you had already asked him to get the job!” He was talking while he jogged up the hill and hugged the girl, while she laughed nervously.

Draco smirked and turned back to the lake, when the boy apparently had seen him. He let go of Olivia and came closer, while outstretching his hand. “You must be the stranger, everyone has been talking about! I’m Aaron Cooper.”

Accepting the offered hand, he greeted the boy with impeccable manners. “Benjamin Brown. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise” Aaron answered and nodded.

Before anyone could say anything, Olivia spoke up, even though her voice was a little quiet. “I’m Olivia Bell, by the way.”

Draco noticed Aaron looking over to her quite amused. “You were talking to someone without introducing you?”

“I’m not used to it, Aaron!” Olivia tried to justify her actions.

Aaron chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. He then turned back to Draco, eyes sparkling. “You must excuse my friend, she hasn’t learnt proper manners yet and...” He couldn’t finish his sentence, as Olivia attacked him with her scarf, which Aaron caught rather quickly.

The boy nodded at Draco again and walked back to the village, tearing Olivia with him by her scarf. She didn’t seem too mad about it. Silently laughing, Draco rolled his eyes and lay back down.


	8. The Snob

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short notice: I won't be able to update anything for a while, since I'm moving houses and I have basically no time to write. I have another chapter for this story ready, but I need to find the time to update...  
> See you soon (hopefully)

Later that day, Draco returned to the pub and was surprised to find a good number of people inside. The door to the kitchen was open as well and a middle aged woman dressed in shining yellow and with blowing brown hair, who had clearly seen the worst in life and accepted that life was unexplainable, walked out with three plates of food.

Potter stood behind the bar, pouring drinks for some guests sitting there and James was already going around the room, collecting orders from the different tables. People were laughing loudly and discussing different topics.

As soon as Potter saw Draco, he waved him closer and made him sit down on a bar stool. “If you’d like something to eat, Benjamin, just tell me and I’ll get Daisy.”

“She’s the best woman in town!” the middle aged man next to Draco practically yelled and Potter smirked when he caught eye of a slightly scared Draco.

“That’s Victor Powell, he owns the sheep here” Potter explained. He then turned to Powell and smiled. “I’m pretty sure you’ve already heard of Benjamin Brown?”

The man nodded and took a big gulp of his beer. Some of the beverage landed on his jeans overall, but he didn’t seem to care. “Give this good man over here a pint from Preston.”

Potter shook his head, as Victor Powell cleared his throat and walked... more like staggered over to the table with three more gentlemen. Draco frowned slightly, when Potter turned to him.

“Would you like to drink a regional beer? Or even better, whiskey? Or are you more the wine drinker? I’m in a partnership with a winery in France, it’s the best wine around here” Potter explained.

Draco bit his tongue, clearly intrigued by the winery, but knowing that Benjamin would never ever drink wine, he ordered the beer Victor had offered him. Potter placed it in front of him, while he explained where it was from. “Preston Ward” he pointed to the young man playing billiard with two women. Just this moment, he started laughing loudly and showed off his muscles. However, the orange shirt he was wearing did nothing for his looks, “he crafts his own beer and it’s rather good.”

Tasting it, Draco had to admit that it was the best beer he had in... well, ever. “It is actually rather good.”

Potter nodded, smirking. “I know. Preston thinks I’m a snob, so I don’t really get much of his beer, but since I increased the price, he lets me sell a few more.”

Draco had almost burst out laughing. Potter, a snob? That was the most amazing thing he had heard in a while.

As if the Gryffindor had read his mind, he smirked as well. “For your information, Benjamin, I am not a snob! I just happen to enjoy wine! Good wine by the way.”

“Way too much!” James cut in and while he gave Potter his list with all the drinks for the guests, he explained why he thought that. “Rumours are, Sirius built a winery in France, but he won’t confirm it, will you, Sirius?”

Placing the drinks for table four on the tray, Potter grinned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

James rolled his eyes and walked off. Draco looked at Potter, frowning. “So... did you open a winery?”

“I have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about.” He winked at Draco and started working on different tables, while Draco quickly excused himself.

Potter’s nonchalance did unspeakable things to him. That and the fact he was apparently openly flirting... Draco shook his head, while he closed the door and leaned against it. Maybe he wasn’t flirting. Maybe this was his personality...

He inhaled deeply and rubbed his temples. The first time they had met, he had said ‘pretty arse’... he was clearly flirting. Why? Since when was Potter interested in men?!


	9. The Theories

The next morning, Draco woke up to the sound of music and singing. It was the most horrendous sound he had ever heard, but he couldn’t stop himself from laughing and shook his head. There was so much happiness in the air that he couldn’t stop grinning.

He got dressed in a green jumper and jeans and climbed down the stairs, smelling the coffee from the top step. In the big, empty room, Potter was dancing around, a broom in his hand, cleaning the floor, while singing. Terribly.

He was wearing a soft pink t-shirt with a grey overall and a rainbow scarf, which Draco thought was a little on the nose. However, he couldn’t stop looking away and after a few moments, he realised that he actually liked his outfit very much.

Draco leaned at the wall, observing the happiness and clear love of his life from the distance. He didn’t know what was worse; his voice or his dance moves. Potter seemingly didn’t care about all of this and just went on with his morning routine.

That was until he turned around and noticed Draco, when he suddenly stood still. His eye grew big and his face was suddenly red, then he jumped over the bar and stopped the music.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” he asked sheepishly, while Draco burst out laughing and shook his head.

“No. Thank goodness I was awake to see this! Unbelievable!”

Potter got even redder (if that was possible) and rolled his eyes. “If you tell anyone what you’ve seen I will kill you! And no one will ever find your body!”

Draco held up his hands in defeat and smirked. “I won’t say a word.”

“You better not. Do you want breakfast?”

Nodding, Draco followed Potter into the kitchen, where he saw pancakes, bacon, eggs and bread. Before he could stop himself, he looked at Potter, frowning. He, on the other hand, rolled his eyes.

“Daisy thinks I’m eating not enough, so she comes over at least twice a week and makes breakfast for me. I’m supposed to eat everything by the time she starts working, but not even an army could finish what she cooks” he explained.

Draco grabbed something to eat, when he cast a glance at Potter. He did look not that well nourished; however, he had always looked that way. Which evidently did not do much.

Potter left and by the time Draco had filled his place and walked out to sit down at the table, it knocked at the door. Yawning, Potter opened it and found Connor in front of it.

“Hello Connor. Got any already read mail for me?”

Draco chortled and quickly turned away, sitting down at a table. He felt Potter’s eyes on him, before Connor answered defensively. “Come on, Sirius! I take my job very seriously! Not a pun, by the way! And I would never ever read letters.”

Potter laughed loudly and shook his head. “Yesterday, you told me you read the letter...”

“That...” Connor seemed to be looking for a good explanation. “The letter was already open and I tried to look if anything was missing.”

“Connor... just give me the mail and go on!” Potter sounded rather annoyed, though the young man at the door wasn’t really getting it.

In fact, the post man tried to get a free beer or vodka, just something with alcohol. Potter denied and closed the door practically in front of his nose. Rolling his eyes, Potter sat down on the same table Draco was sitting. He looked at his mail and noticed another letter that had been opened. Draco smirked.

“That boy has no idea what it means to be a post man, hasn’t he?” Draco asked and ate another piece of pancakes.

Potter shook his head. “He never wanted to be one. Apparently, his mother pressured him into it. I would have preferred it if someone who was a little more... serious would have taken the job.”

Draco chuckled. “By the way, I’m still interested in why you called the pub ‘three sheep’.”

The Gryffindor looked up and after a seemingly careful evaluation if Draco was honest, he shrugged his shoulders. “Okay then. When I was younger I had two best friends and we stuck together through good and bad. But I believe that in the end we were just sheep, following the rules of someone else. So... when it was time to name my pub, I decided to honour... whatever it was we had.”

Frowning, Draco looked at Potter. “If you say it like that I have to believe they’re not so good friends anymore?”

Potter shrugged his shoulders. “We grew apart. They’re married and waiting for a child. What am I supposed to do in this intricate relationship of a happy family?”

Draco knew exactly what he meant... Internally, he was trying to figure out if Benjamin would ask more. He was saved however, by Potter.

“And you? Why are you running away, if you could have an even better job?”

Chuckling softly, Draco rolled his eyes, while Potter smirked and answered the unasked question. “Yes, Olivia might have told everyone. And people had their wildest theories about why you were hiding.”

Draco raised his eyebrows. “Oh, really? Like what?” He continued eating, while Potter held up his fingers, explaining the different theories.

“Victor thinks you’ve killed a man and are avoiding police. Preston believes that you are actually married, but had an affair and somehow there’s also a child involved.” Potter frowned, while Draco smirked about their theories. “Connor considers the option that you are actually a maniac trying to kill everyone in this village.” Potter shrugged his shoulders, smirking, and Draco had to place his orange juice on the table so he wouldn’t spill it, laughing. “Oh, and James feels that you’re looking for the girl that broke your heart, after she ran away from you, because you asked her to marry you and she said no. Or the other way around, I don’t remember.”

“That’s very detailed...” Draco mentioned and shook his head.

Potter smirked. “There’s also the theory that you’re trying to find the love of your life, and people are arguing whether that’s a man or a woman. Most women believe it’s a girl, the men think it’s a boy. Make of that what you will.”

“And what do you think?” The question had left Draco’s lips before he had time to over think it and quickly turned back to his breakfast, which was already gone.

Looking back at Potter, he shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t usually theorize about other people. Everyone here has been running from something in their lives, so they really shouldn’t be speculating about you.”


End file.
